Friday, July 07, 2006

Last Day in the Office

Yesterday (Thursday) was my last day in the office prior to the big famous Sabbatical. I started with a meeting at 7:30am and finished with the last meeting ending at about 8:30pm. It was the big sprint to the finish line trying to get all the loose ends tied up before "elvis leaves the building".

Then I went straight home and scooped up the family and we went to the East Lansing Movie in the Park event. It was a 9:30pm outdoor showing of "Ice Age: The Meltdown". We took one of the ladies from Faith Church who has become like a grandparent to our kids, and we met with another family from the church to watch the movie (it was right behind Beaner's, so all the adults enjoyed ridiculously expensive coffee drinks too). The movie was really funny, but there was definitely some "adult content" that I wish had not been included. One of the main story lines was about 2 Wooly Mammoths who feel their responsibility to propogate their species and prevent their breed from extinction. That part of the story line was a funny situation comedy bit that was great for adults, but there were some uncomfortable moments where the Mammoths talked about their need to breed. I think we could have done without that.

This week it has been kind of funny because everybody who would walk into the church and see me would say, "Hey what are you doing here!!! You're supposed to be taking time off!" I kept explaining, over and over again, that Sunday was my last Sunday but I was still planning on wrapping up the week in the office.

I have to say again, it is a wonderful thing to feel so loved and appreciated that people are trying to guard our family time and bless us with this 40 day journey of discovery. The discovery part is me realizing and fully trusting that our awesome pastoral staff and team of leaders are fully capable of handling any challenge that comes their way. Sometimes it is an eye-opener when we finally acknowledge that the whole world does not revolve around self. We have such a great team and I feel it an amazing honor that I get to work with such talented and passionate leaders. It's a dream team for sure!